1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a procedure for manufacturing a cutting material comprised of a precipitation-hardened intermetallic compound of nickel alloy possessing superior strength, hardness and a long life span.
2. Prior Art
Generally up until now, many different kinds of cutting machines have been employed for such things as forming wafers, through the cutting of silicon monocrystal ingots such as those used in semiconductor devices, to the slicing of meat. Such materials as carbon steel and stainless steel are generally the cutting materials used in these applications.
However recently, accompanying the high speed and high performance cutting machines, is a tendency to increase the severity of the usage conditions. Due to insufficiencies in the strength and hardness of the cutting materials used in the aforementioned prior art, there is a problem in the reduction of labor in that the cutting materials must be exchanged frequently because of their relatively short life span. Moreover, nickel alloy is known to possess heat resistance and a high toughness in addition to being anti-corrosive, but due to the low hardness of this type of alloy, it could not be applied for use where high hardness was required.